


Feels a lot like flying

by acGranger



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Draco writes as a form of clearing his head, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Secret Santa, family pictures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:53:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28059501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acGranger/pseuds/acGranger
Summary: McGonagall decides to organise a Secret Santa for the eighth years and Draco naturally gets Potter
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 12
Kudos: 122
Collections: Harry/Draco Owlpost 2020





	Feels a lot like flying

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Darkravenwrote](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkravenwrote/gifts).



> Dear darkravenwrote,  
> This has to be my personal record with how fast I can write down a ficlet. My beta screamed at me, when she first read it, which is always a good sign. So I hope you’ll like it too.

There was a big post on the eighth year common room board:

> _“Dear Eighth years:_
> 
> _In order to further encourage inter house unity, you will each partake in a pilot project:_
> 
> _The Secret Santa Exchange._
> 
> _The rules are simple: you will each find the name of a randomly selected person within your year on a note on your pillows._  
>  _You will organise a small gift for this person._
> 
> _In the end, each individual will receive one gift and give one gift. . Please consider what your giftee would like, but remember: meaning is more important than materialistic value. Finished gifts are to be placed in the chest underneath this post by December 20th._
> 
> _The gifts will be anonymously delivered the morning of the 21st._
> 
> _The point of the whole exchange is that no one knows who made their gift, so please keep that information secret until the gifts are exchanged._
> 
> _Minerva McGonagall_  
>  _Headmistress, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry”_

Draco swallowed and went into the boys dorm, searching for his note.

_Harry Potter_

Of course he got Potter. Draco pushed his annoyance aside and thought deeply. What could Potter want?

It took him a week to come up with an idea but when he did, he nearly cursed himself for not thinking of it earlier. When he was little, his parents had shown him pictures to teach him about the pureblood families and there had been a few pictures of the Potters. Hoping he remembered correctly, Draco pulled out some parchment and crafted a letter to his mother.

***

His Mother didn’t disappoint. She sent all seven pictures within two days and didn’t even ask a single question. With consideration, Draco got out his dark blue parchment and the silver ink that he normally used for his personal notes and sat down to craft a letter to Potter.

> _~~Potter~~  
>  Harry,_
> 
> _Family is important and I am sorry I ever made you feel bad about the fate of yours. It is a tragedy and I have no excuse for myself. Please take this as an apology for all the horrible things I have done to you._

Draco left the note deliberately vague, trying not to give away his identity. Before he could pack the gift away, Theo interrupted him with a reminder of the time. Hastily Draco pushed the pictures and the note under a stack of parchment and joined his friend for dinner.

That night when all his dorm mates were asleep, Draco took the dark blue parchment and the pictures out of his bag and under the light of a very dim lumos, he bound them together with a silver ribbon.

Dressed in only his pajamas, he slipped into the common room and dropped the gift into the chest.

***

Harry woke to a gift at the foot of his bed on the morning of the 21st. He glanced around the room and saw that the others were still asleep. He pulled his bed curtains close and untied the silver ribbon.

Despite the small notes at the bottom of each picture, it took him nearly 5 minutes to understand what he was looking at.

A couple in fancy robes, laughing; titled: ‘Euphemia and Fleamont Potter. Summer 1957’.

The same couple, albeit a bit older, holding a baby, the photo titled: ’Euphemia and Fleamont Potter, with James, Spring 1961’.

A clipping of the prophet: ‘Interview with Sleek-eazy Inventor Fleamont Potter’

And then it clicked. Harry was looking at his grandparents. This was a part of his heritage, a part he formerly hadn’t had. With tears in his eyes he looked at the other pictures.

‘Euphemia with son James Potter, Summer 1964’

‘Sirius Black, Regulus Black and James Potter at the spring ball in Black Manor, 1971’

‘Euphemia and Fleamont Potter with James. Founders gala 1968’

‘Fleamont Potter and Zaira Zabini, winter 1951’.

Harry felt a tear escape his eyes, and tried blinking quickly to stop the others from falling too. His gaze fell upon the dark blue parchment and he picked it up.

> _  
> The first time I saw you, I knew that I would fall. And fall I did.  
>  Seeing you on that broom in fourth year, outflying an angry dragon.... I just fell.  
>  Seeing you withstanding the Imperius curse… I just fell.  
>  Seeing you in your formal robes… I just fell.  
>  Seeing you stand up to Umbridge… I just fell._
> 
> _And by sixth year, when I didn’t even think I could fall anymore, I just fell deeper, every time I saw you. Deeper in love but also deeper into despair. How I hoped I could be on your side, how I hoped that you could stop me, how I hoped for you to save me._
> 
> _The day we met in the bathroom, it broke my heart, letting the pieces fall into the depth of an empty chasm in my chest._
> 
> _The pieces were still for a long time, lying somewhere deep inside of me — subdued. And then they brought me in to identify you. I knew it was you, how couldn’t I, when the pieces deep in my chest became sharp and alive again? It had to be you and I just knew I had to save you. I couldn’t have coped with you dying._
> 
> _A few weeks later, you were proclaimed dead. Each piece of my broken heart, each piece of my love, turned into a dagger, slicing me open from the inside._
> 
> _I had hoped to have stopped falling for you but apparently I never did, because when I saw you get up again, I fell._
> 
> _I've been falling ever since. Your laugh, your smile, your intelligence. I catch a glimpse of you and I fall; deeper into love._
> 
> _I fear the day you notice, because while falling might be dangerous, it is better than the daggers of losing you again, even if I can only have you in my mind._

And there in the margins was a doodle. A drawing of a constellation and if Harry hadn’t known from the letter, he would have from the sketch. It was basically as good as a signature, doodling one's own name-sake onto the paper.

Draco.

In the confinement of his bed, Harry didn’t even try to pretend not to know the constellation by heart. He knew it, just like he knew everything else about him, like he knew about his feelings for the blond.

Intuitively and without a doubt.

With a sense of urgency he raced to the dorm across the hall, knocking rapidly on the door. Fortunately it was Draco who opened. “Do you mean it?” Harry asked, slightly out of breath.

“Huh? Do I mean what?” came the confused reply. Draco was still in his pajamas as well, looking slightly rumpled.

“Do you mean this?” Harry repeated himself and basically shoved the dark blue parchment into Draco’s face. The Slytherin’s eyes skimmed the page and a moment later his eyes widened and his face went pale. That was all the confirmation Harry needed. He let his hand clutching the letter fall to his side, only to raise his free hand and reach towards Draco’s face.

“Can I please kiss you?” Harry whispered. His question was met with a slow nod from the still shocked man in front of him, and Harry closed the distance. Draco’s lips were impossibly soft and warm against his own. Sparks appeared behind Harry’s closed eyelids and he felt warmth surge through every fibre of his being.

When they pulled apart, Draco looked dazed and Harry’s hand remained cupping Draco’s cheek. Softly Harry whispered, “I know you said falling in love is scary; but being with someone you love… It feels a lot like flying.”

**Author's Note:**

> Did Draco plan on sending that long note? No, no he did not.  
> Did he mistake his personal diary/poetry entry for the note because of the very dim Lumos? Yes, yes he did.
> 
> All the love to my wonderful beta. 
> 
> Kudos and comments are deeply appreciated! :)


End file.
